Can I switch off the Auto Manipulation when using Transform Hotkeys?
You can use the native shortcuts for setting the tool to move rotate or scale. If you hit alt and release it and immediately after that hit the key for any operator, you will likely select the matching tool. This works with many things like b for border select, or ctrl+b for bevel in edit mode and so on, and it includes g,r,s as well. 

Warning! This may contain some amount of personal opinion from this point. :) But I think there is some logic in it as well.

In general I would recommend to try and see if you can get used to Blender's way with features that are different from the package that you are used to. This is not because they would be better in any way or something like that, but because they may work better together with other parts of Blender because some workflows may differ from other software and you might be pleasantly surprised after you get used to them. Of course there will be things that you will want to customise and there is nothing wrong with making them as they are in other packages, I would just like to recommend not to rush too much so you know for sure that it's going to be more efficient for you to work in one way or another. I was surprised with many things when transitioning from Maya and am glad I gave them a chance for a bit longer than I wanted at first.